''Joltin' Joe Roland'' is an album by jazz vibraphonist
Joe Roland
Joe Roland (May 17, 1920 – October 12, 2009) was an American jazz vibraphonist.
Roland began as a clarinetist, attending the Institute of Musical Art (later known as the Juilliard School) from 1937 to 1939. He started on xylophone in 1940 and ...
which was released on the
Savoy
Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps.
Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south.
Savo ...
label in 1955. The album was originally released as two 10-inch LPs recorded at three sessions, two from 1950 and 1954 released as ''Joe Roland Quartet and Symfonet'' and the other from 1954 released as ''Joe Roland Quartet''.
Joe Roland discography
accessed October 18, 2018
Reception
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
reviewer Scott Yanow stated: " He is paired in two 1954 quintets with either Freddie Redd (who plays conventional bop) and Wade Legge (sounding at his most eccentric) on piano. However the most memorable set is from 1950 for Roland is joined by guitar (Joe Puma), bass, drums and a string quartet. The writing for the strings (which is uncredited) is quite inventive and, although the strings do not solo, they sound very much like a jazz ensemble".
Track listing
''All compositions by Wade Legge, except where noted.''
# "Gene's Stew" – 5:24
# "Spice" – 4:26
# "Garrity's Flight" (Joe Roland) – 2:46
# "Indian Summer
An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more s ...
" (Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, cellist and conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is be ...
, Al Dubin
Alexander Dubin (June 10, 1891 – February 11, 1945) was an American lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with the composer Harry Warren.
Life
Al Dubin came from a Russian Jewish family that emigrated to the United States from Swi ...
) – 2:50
# "Half Nelson" (Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
) – 3:59
# "Love Is Just a Plaything" (Roland) – 2:27
# "Music House" – 3:08
# "Joyce's Choice" – 2:41
# "I've Got the World on a String
"I've Got The World on a String" is a 1932 popular jazz song composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics written by Ted Koehler. It was written for the twenty-first edition of the Cotton Club series which opened on October 23, 1932, the first of the Co ...
" (Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ...
, Ted Koehler
Ted L. Koehler (July 14, 1894 – January 17, 1973) was an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.
Life and career
Koehler was born in 1894 in Washington, D.C.
He started out as a photo-engraver, but w ...
) – 4:39
# "Stephanie's Dance" (Freddie Redd) – 4:25
# "Sally Is Gone" (Roland) – 2:58
# "Dee Dee's Dance" (Denzil Best
Denzil DaCosta Best (April 27, 1917 – May 24, 1965) was an American jazz percussionist and composer born in New York City. He was a prominent bebop drummer in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Biography
Best was born in New York City, into a musi ...
) – 2:44
* Recorded on January 17, 1950 (tracks 5, 6, 11 & 12), May 10, 1954 (tracks 3, 4, 9 & 10) and October 17, 1954 (tracks 1, 2, 7 & 8)
Personnel
* Joe Roland
Joe Roland (May 17, 1920 – October 12, 2009) was an American jazz vibraphonist.
Roland began as a clarinetist, attending the Institute of Musical Art (later known as the Juilliard School) from 1937 to 1939. He started on xylophone in 1940 and ...
– vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...
* Wade Legge
Wade Legge (February 4, 1934, Huntington, West Virginia – August 29, 1963, Buffalo, New York) was an American jazz pianist and bassist.
Wade Legge was born in Huntington, West Virginia, but soon thereafter moved to Buffalo, New York with ...
, (tracks 1, 2, 7 & 8), Freddie Redd
Freddie Redd (May 29, 1928 – March 17, 2021) was an American Hard bop, hard-bop pianist and composer. He is best known for writing music to accompany ''The Connection (play), The Connection'' (1959), a play by Jack Gelber. According to Peter ...
(tracks 3, 4, 9 & 10) – piano
* Joe Puma
Joe Puma (August 13, 1927 – May 31, 2000) was an American jazz guitarist.
Puma was born in the Bronx, New York. His first professional experience came with Joe Roland in 1949–50. He played in the band led by Cy Coleman. He acted as a sessio ...
– guitar (tracks 5, 6, 11 & 12)
* Danny Martucci (tracks 1, 2, 7 & 8), Oscar Pettiford
Oscar Pettiford (September 30, 1922 – September 8, 1960) was an American jazz double bassist, cellist and composer. He was one of the earliest musicians to work in the bebop idiom.
Biography
Pettiford was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, United ...
(tracks 3, 4, 9 & 10), Ismael Ugarte (tracks 5, 6, 11 & 12) – bass
* Harold Granowski, (tracks 5, 6, 11 & 12), Ron Jefferson
Ron Jefferson (February 13, 1926, in New York City Guillon, Roland (2005)''Anthologie du hard bop: L'éclat du jazz noir américain'' Editions L'Harmattan, pp. 49–60. At Google Books. Retrieved 30 July 2013. – May 7, 2007, in Richmond, Vi ...
(tracks 1–4 & 7–10) – drums
* Jules Modlin, Gus Oberstein – violin (tracks 5, 6, 11 & 12)
* Mike Bartun – viola
The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...
(tracks 5, 6, 11 & 12)
* Sid Kassimir – cello (tracks 5, 6, 11 & 12)
* Paula Castle – vocals (track 6)
References
{{Authority control
1955 albums
Savoy Records albums
Joe Roland albums
Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio
Albums produced by Ozzie Cadena
Albums recorded in a home studio